Sadly it’s not… are you able to make as much money with as low pay as possible and also do whatever you’re told without questions, is a big factor.
I just noticed that most schools don’t negotiate the paycheck. The only difference in the paycheck is race. White face +100. Teaching skills? +0
Anyone find it strange too?
I just learned that nobody cares about education. It’s business. Even the ultimate American bushibans are the same.
I’ve managed to find some local schools that actually cares about education and their teachers, but those are rare. You just need to keep searching.
Generally speaking, the larger/more famous the school, the less they care. Ironic huh 
Excuse me if this has been mentioned before or is obvious, but when comparing hourly rates at cram schools it’s necessary to take into account the estimated amount of lesson preparation and other unpaid activities. I once worked at a school where I was expected to spend almost as long preparing lessons, arts and crafts materials, phoning parents etc as I spent doing the paid teaching. my current job, where I’m paid 610/hour but with regular blocks of hours and relatively little preparation, is by comparison a much better choice.
As to whether cram schools would pay more for someone with significant teaching experience and advanced degrees and bilingual in mandarin, my experience is no. My postdoc in education, for instance, is completely irrelevant from a cram school owner’s point of view.
[quote=“BiggusDickus, post:195, topic:208088, full:true”]
I second this. Always keep in touch with the market, even when you know you’ll turn it down eventually. Plus, who knows, you might be able to get a better price than advertised.
Why do you take the job then? It seems to me many of you could get a better job elsewhere. Why stay in Taiwan?
I’m middle age and have all sorts of experiences that younger teachers just have to live long enough to experience. But these years of experience don’t matter to the schools.
Yes, for the same pay, by the hour, I was expected to sweep the floor of the classroom, grade papers, and create monthly reports for each student. All of this but I was only going to be paid for the time spent teaching the kids. I didn’t last long at that job. Told them to find someone else.
It really is all about the money these places can make. Profit first and then quality of education. On top of this, lots of these places just make it really unpleasant to work for them.
I hear that even the local international schools are like this. Fixed salary. Considering how much the parents pay those schools. Sigh.
Even if they have better career prospects outside Taiwan, including in mainland China, many people are not able to simply up and leave. They may decide to stay in Taiwan in the middle or long-term because they have a partner here, or relatives, or are enamoured (it’s possible, I guess) with Taiwanese culture. Taiwan also has the practical advantage of 1. a relatively low cost of living compared to many other places and 2. offers gold card visas
Someone, having decided to stay in Taiwan, might consider cram school work over working as a full time professor/researcher/international school teacher/etc because an hourly rate of 600 plus, with minimal prep, is quite competitive (you have to factor in paid vacations, but still) with these more selective full time positions that might pay as little as 80k a month.
Cram school work (with the huge proviso that you find a school where you don’t have much prep to do and where you can get along with the owners and the other teachers) has the advantage that it allows someone to make an above average wage (by Taiwanese standards) while working less than a full-time job, leaving free time for other activities.
I’ve only discussed remuneration, not job satisfaction. For anyone genuinely interested in education, the cram schools, high schools and universities are just as bad as one another, parts of the same flawed system and same flawed society. I personally do get a lot of satisfaction interacting with the kids in my cram school, but at the same time I realize that they are not only wasting their time by being there but actually destroying their intrinsic ability to think for themselves and learn
This is a big problem. The boss can refuse the letter and immigration just says, ‘well get the letter or you can’t change employers’, yet you are literally letting them know you are in an illegal position by having an ARC with no hours. In addition, the work permit can be cancelled behind your back which forces the worker into an overstay condition inadvertently and subject to arrest and deportion with NO notice given because immigration is not required to notify the person.
You can’t even switch to the open visa for job search either without that letter.
Does anyone work in New Taipei? Can you afford to live on 600 nt? I might make a thread later because I kind of want to move there.
Depends on how many hours you got in total. I think the minimum for staying alive is around 40k. If you want a life you’d need at least 60k.
That’s 25 hrs per week if your rate is 600.
Not too bad. Especially when you have no where to go during the pandemic. Probably wouldn’t spend too much money in your free time. I remember going out everyday and spending loads of money when I was between jobs. The irony.
Have you taken tax into consideration?
Ah no… I’m a citizen so I often forget about this… how much tax do you pay?
Lol… we pay the same. But should not rely on the gross amount to budget.
I thought usually foreigners pay more tax 
well if it’s the same then I wouldn’t worry about it too much. 60k isn’t lucrative but it’s still pretty decent.
Unless you want to live in a decent place in Taipei.
Decent is subjective. Many are happy with 50k and many complains even 80k is not enough . So only you know how much is enough for you to have a decint life. But then again, no matter how much you earn in life, its either enough or its never enough. Depends on hwo a person think.
Foreigners get their tax withheld maybe more at the beginning (18%) due to being in Taiwan for less than 6 months. But when tax filing comes, the calculation of the tax bracket is the same for everyone.
There’s exception for like gold card holder earning more than $3MM NTD.
The OP asked about new Taipei 
Totally agree.
By decent I mean you could afford at least some entertainment and save some money for emergency. 40k - rent - food & grocery money - transportation, etc. You wouldn’t have much left. Perhaps you could afford 1 or 2 outings with your friend per month, and you might hesitate to stay in a luxurious hotel for the weekend.
If you want a life without perceiving the existence of price tags, than you’d need much much much more than that